Best software testing articles of 2008

The year 2008 was very productive for software testing help in terms of new subscribers and site traffic. We covered many interesting and (I hope) helpful articles in this year.

Here is the recap of some popular posts from year 2008. I know it’s very difficult to select few posts to show here. Still these are some most popular posts, in random order, you can enjoy. Don’t forget to bookmark this page

How to get your all bugs resolved without any ‘Invalid bug’ label?
I hate “Invalid bug” label from developers for the bugs reported by me, do you? I think every tester should try to get his/her all bugs resolved. This requires bug reporting skill. Check out this article to know what troubleshooting you need to do before reporting any bug.

Developers are not good testers. What you say?
Developers test their own code. Then why testers needed? What are the drawbacks of developer testing his own code? Why can’t it be a success? If developer testing is always not sufficient testing then what things developers should test and what the test team should? To know answers to these questions read on.

Tips to design test data before executing your test cases
I have mentioned importance of proper test data in many of my previous articles. Tester should check and update the test data before execution of any test case. In this article I will provide tips on how to prepare test environment so that any important test case will not be missed.

Manual and Automation testing Challenges
Software testing is full of challenges. Testers face many challenges in manual as well as automation testing. Tester who manages to address these challenges effectively can become successful tester. In this article I have included most of the testing challenges you need to overcome.

Smoke testing and sanity testing – Quick and simple differences
Despite of hundreds of web articles on Smoke and sanity testing, many people still have confusion between these terms and keep on asking to me. Here is a simple and understandable difference that can clear your confusion between smoke testing and sanity testing.

An approach for Security Testing of Web Applications
How to make sure your web application is secure before release? Web site security testing is important part of software testing life cycle like other functionality and performance testing. This article will guide you with different type of attacks on web applications and information on how to test web application for security.

Some Interesting Articles on Software Testing Career:

How to prepare for software testing interview
This article will help for preparation of software testing interview for freshers as well as working testing professional who want to switch their current job. Know the key areas you need to prepare and how to keep yourself updated on testing methodologies.

Software Testing Advice for Novice Testers
Novice testers have many questions about software testing and the actual work that they are going to perform. As novice testers, you should be aware of certain facts in the software testing profession. The tips mentioned here will certainly help to advance you in your software-testing career

Money making, software testing career and secrets of a richest tester
These days a lot of people who pass out of engineering and science colleges are interested about software testing as a career. Also today there isn’t a huge difference between what testers and developers get paid. How can testers make more money than what they have been making.

How to build a successful QA team?
There are plenty of things to be considered while building successful software testing team. After reading this article look at your team and question yourself “Are you working in great test team” or ” Will you make every effort to build great test team”.

Apart from software testing articles we also covered some topics on soft skills for testers:

How to ask for promotion and salary raise in this appraisal?
Yearly performance appraisal review is the key process to major employee performance and reward him/her by promotion or salary raise based on the performance. If you think you are eligible for this reward then read this article to know on what basis your performance is majored and how to put your best efforts to get salary raise and promotion.

How to keep good testers in testing positions?
Here I have answered one interesting reader’s question “how to keep good testers in testing positions?” Nowadays due to high compensation packages it’s really hard to keep good testers in testing. Many of the really skilled testers are always looking for switch. Here are some ideas on how to keep good testers in testing positions.

Top Three Tips to Survive in this Recession – Economic Downtime
Everyone is talking about recession. Many of your close friends might have experienced this. Everyday we hear news about pink slips, reduction in IT recruitment, bleak prospects etc. How software testers can survive in this recession? Here are three simple and effective tips to survive in this recession.

Soft Skill for testers: How to improve communication skill
Good communication skill is a must for software testers. You might have seen this line in every job requirements especially openings in QA and testing field. As a tester you need to communicate with different project team members including clients, communication skill plays important role. Read this post if you want to improve your communication skill.

Hi,
I have been getting good updates on Software testing form here. This post will be of great help, since I can go through some of the best posts of 2008 I have missed.
Thanks for the good job you all are doing. We hope to receive much more information on testing in 2009.
Wish all of you a very happy new year.

this is a very good site for all the software testers, hope more infomation on testing will come up in 2009 such as
1. more detail on security testing & client-server testing with example.
2. database testing steps with example
thanks

Hi my name is jayant chauhan and my age is 23. I am from Mumbai and i have got 1 year experience in software testing, I was working for STC Third Eye Technology in Chennai on the Manual testing Platform as a trainee software test engineer. I would like to know that if i want to make my carrer in this profession then should i upgrade my self with Automation Testing and if Yes then which tool should i go for. Currently i am learning Rational Robot and QTP & also Silk Test so will it be helpful for me in my future if i learn this tools and will i get the job in this profession.

Hi,
I am looking for job in s/w testing, i have exp of development of arond 3 yrs. but after that i have got a gap of abt 3 yrs ….
now want to start again ..do I have any good prospects in this is field, i have done a short course also in testing as to come back in flow..but as u know how institutes works ..please suggset ..
Thanks & Regards
Sonal

I’m Akash, working in a software company as quality control engineer. I’ve 1year experience. I just wanted to know that I’ve just done my degree BCA and want to do master degree. Can anyone please guide me should I go for MCA or MBA? Along with my job I’m learning QTP from an institute. I want to make a great career in testing field.

I want a guru who could guide me. I never got a good guidance from anyone in my life so I’m struggling so much but now I don’t want to waste time.

Hi,
I have 1 year experience in manual testing of web applications in a company, currently I have joined another company where I am testing a desktop application.
I wanted to know ,Will this affect scope of my carrer in testing in any way, that I have shifted from one form of testing to a completely different one, where there are no servers or databases,etc involved. ??

Hello, i need to connect to remote database server which has a firewall, how do i bypass the firewall which keeps on switching the ip address. Plz suggest me some options in this regard. Thanks ~ Shaik

software testing is process of finding defects so that the product is defect free and ensures quality product to the customers and it enhances the clients satisfaction of making the product a quality product and also ensuring that the customers are satisfied. this is a definition according to me